TOW the Happy World Recipe
by spiralnebulaM31
Summary: "I have the perfect plan for Saturday night!" Season 4 pre Mondler cuteness on Valentine's day 1998.


"I have the perfect plan for Saturday night!" Chandler said, barging in his and Joey's apartment. Well, it was Monica and Rachel's apartment now. "You're not Monica."

"No, I'm not." Rachel said, looking up at him curiously from the couch. "What's on Saturday night?"

"It's Valentine's day." Chandler stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, actually it's Valentine's night." Chuckling at his own joke, he noticed that Rachel wasn't in the mood to share his excitement.

"You don't have a date, do you?"

"Why do people always assume that I don't have a date? Let me inform you that I could have a date if I wanted to!" Chandler said in an annoyed tone.

"Really?" Rachel asked doubtfully.

"No, I don't have a date. In fact I don't think I'll ever have a date again." He added miserably. "Do you have a date?"

"Hey!" Monica walked into the apartment with a bag full of groceries. Chandler smiled at her and got out of her way, stepping closer to where Rachel was sitting.

"Hey Mon. Actually, I do have a date. It's not Joshua, but I'd rather spent the evening out with some cute guy than home alone." Rachel sighed. Over the years she had come to embrace the idea of not having someone to date at all times. Valentine's day though… It was something different. Everyone should have a date. She would couple up every person in the world if she could.

"I'm not going to be alone!" Chandler exclaimed.

Rachel raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"No, he's not." Monica said. "We're spending the day together. Dateless!" She added cheekily while sorting out the groceries.

Rachel made a face at her friends' fake enthusiasm. "Ugh, you might even have more fun than me." With that she went into her bedroom and shut the door.

"Chandler, how many of your disgusting cockroaches do I have to find in here?" Monica said exasperated.

"Did you just close that drawer? Now we don't know where it went!" Chandler said, taking several steps back.

Monica rolled her eyes. "It's dead."

"Oh. That's good." Chandler tentatively approached the counter again. "Since you're saying they're _my _cockroaches, that means I would have to make it up to you somehow, right?"

Monica's eyes shined with something Chandler could identify as her 'challenge glance' and her lips curved into a smirk. "Give us our apartment back?"

"No!" He was prepared for that. "But whatever we do on Saturday will be my treat." Seeing that Monica was about to protest, he added quickly "Wait, let me finish. We'll go to an early screening of 'The Borrowers'. It was released today and it's a comedy, something we can both enjoy. Then we'll have dinner at a restaurant nearby, as we've agreed; I've already made reservations. At the end of the night we can do whatever you want." He finished with a playful wink.

Monica's pensive face made him cringe. He wanted to plan a nice evening for both of them. It would certainly not be a date, but he couldn't see the harm in two friends enjoying Valentine's day together, especially when they were the only people in their group of friends who didn't have a date for the night.

"The movie sounds okay. But don't I have a say about the restaurant?"

"At the end of the night we can do whatever you want." Chandler repeated, a faint smile now on his face.

He knew her. She was afraid he knew her too well. He had a certain restaurant in mind and he didn't want her to change his mind about it. She would have to relinquish some amount of control to him on their evening together, but he was giving her the next best thing: the freedom to choose the way to end the night.

Monica eventually gave in and smiled. "That actually sounds fun."

**..:::..**

The movie theater was crowded; too crowded for their liking. The movie was good though; just funny, just what they needed.

Chandler had bought their tickets without Monica realizing it. When she insisted on giving him her part of the money, he reminded her of the disgusting insect that lay dead in the drawer. She retrieved her wallet and neither of them mentioned it again.

The restaurant Chandler had chosen wasn't far from their apartment building. Monica smiled when she saw it. She had seen it before, but she had never been inside.

It was an old eclecticistic building that looked unique between the modern ones. "Little Poland" was written in red above the awning that covered the entrance.

Once they stepped inside, Monica's mood changed considerably. She went from curious and pleased with Chandler's choice to giddy with excitement.

The smell that filled the air and teased their nostrils was definitely not one they were used to. It was great–really great–and they couldn't wait to taste what that place had to offer them. Over the years, Monica had tasted and cooked several different recipes from all over the world. She had never tried traditional Polish cuisine though, and she was more than ready to.

The inside of the restaurant looked like a warm home. There was a carpet covering the whole floor and wooden boards held the ceiling. The fireplace close to the bar, the curtains styled in a certain way on the windows and the landscape photos on the wall created a comfortable atmosphere and, along with the food aroma, gave the impression of being in another place, far from that city.

"Do you think I could ask for some of their recipes?" Monica asked as they were sitting on their table.

Chandler chuckled. "We haven't even ordered yet!"

She gave him a shrug.

"Well, you can start by writing down this one." He said, pointing to the wall nearby.

"Happy World Recipe" Monica read and smiled. "That's cute."

After a waitress had brought them some water and the menus, Monica took a small notebook out of her purse and began writing the ingredients of the "recipe".

Chandler leaned forward and read upside down:

· _3 bags of smiles_

· _2 cups of love_

· _1 barrel of laughter_

· _A splash of positivity_

· _½ spoons of humour_

· _A sprinkle of friendship_

· _2 spoonfuls of hope_

· _A dash of goodwill_

· _4 drops of easy going_

He began laughing, mostly because of the way she was writing the words so neatly, with bullets and everything. Monica kicked him softly under the table, but couldn't help laughing herself while she was writing down the steps under the ingredients.

They ordered the restaurant's specialties: the bigos, vegetable and pork stew served in a bread bowl, and the famous polish dumplings, pierogi. For dessert they tried the babka and some homemade rice pudding with cinnamon.

An hour later they were walking on the street full and content. They saw cheerful couples everywhere, but they chose to ignore them.

"Seriously?" Chandler asked incredulously. Monica had just told him where they would go next.

"What?" Monica asked, feigning innocence.

Chandler couldn't help but notice that she barely contained her grin.

He gasped dramatically and stopped walking. "You did it on purpose!"

Monica, who had walked a few steps ahead of him, turned around to face him again. "You picked the movie AND the restaurant!"

"But you liked both the movie and the restaurant! Ten minutes ago you were still drooling over the food!"

"No, I wasn't!" Monica lied. She went close to him again, until they were only inches apart. She continued in a more serious tone. "I admit that I wanted to torture you a little. But we had so much fun and now it doesn't seem fair…"

"So, we're not going?" Chandler asked doubtfully.

"Oh, we're going!" Monica said and grabbed his hand. She began dragging him across the street.

After a few minutes of them walking in silence, Monica spoke again. "You know, I really wanted to go to this thing tonight. There would be no way for me to go there if I had a real date tonight." She mumbled the last few words and felt his hold on her hand loosen a little. She internally cursed herself for saying that out loud.

Chandler glanced at her and she could see a hint of muted hurt in his eyes. "You know, I'm not your girl friend, the one you can take everywhere a guy wouldn't take you." He said slowly.

Monica stopped, tugging on his hand to make him face her fully. "I know. You're my Chandler. And _we _chose to spend this evening together. We don't have to stop having fun just because we're going to V-Day!"

Chandler grinned at her brightly. "Does that mean you're my Monica?"

"Do I have another choice?"

"No. You're mine for the night!"

"Okay." Monica chuckled and they resumed walking, never leaving each other's hand. "I'm telling you, it won't be so bad."

"But it will be full of women!" Chandler complained.

"But it is for a good cause! Don't you think? It's nothing to be ashamed of, Chandler. On the contrary, going there is a good thing. Besides, do you know how many women go weak in the knees when they notice a guy being sensitive, fighting for their well-being?"

"I guess you're right. Of course, that would only happen if they noticed they guy. Noone ever notices me, so–"

"Stop right there. What are we going to continue doing?"

"Umm… having fun?" He gave her one of those lopsided smiles that always made _her_ go weak in the knees.

"Exactly. There's going to be music and performances and we can donate some money for a good cause." She leaned into his side and smiled up at him.

**..:::..**

Monica was right; they did have a good time. A great time, actually.

The event they went to had more success than they could imagine. And of course, not only women were there. Monica kept teasing Chandler all evening and they ended up laughing hysterically when they reached their apartment building.

Rachel found them cuddled up on the couch, sleeping soundly, when she returned home the next morning.

A piece of paper lay on the coffee table next to them. Her curiosity won and she was there in an instant, picking it up. She recognized Monica's handwriting. She raised her eyebrows when she read "Happy world recipe". She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to find, but it certainly hadn't been something like that. All the "ingredients" had a tick to their right and some of the proportions were fixed, apparently by Chandler. "1000 barrels of laughter", "2000 cups of love", "∞ sprinkles of friendship". And then the steps:

"_Mix the love and the smiles with positivity, tenderness and humour.  
Sprinkle with friendship and hope.  
Season abundantly with laughter.  
Bake with rays of the sun.  
Serve with generosity."_

Rachel's heart swelled at her friends' cuteness. She glanced at them fondly and left the piece of paper at the exact spot she had found it.

She walked towards Joey's room–her room–thinking how nice it would be if she had someone to share what Monica and Chandler had been sharing for years.

**..:::..**

**A/N: -** I've had the first part of this one-shot in a draft form for a long time. Yesterday I suddenly remembered it and thought it was a good time to finish it. Valentine's day is not my thing, but who can resist some pre Mondler mush?

**\- **"Little Poland" is an actual polish restaurant in East Village, New York City. Photos of it gave me great inspiration for Monica and Chandler's (non-)date. The "recipe" appears to be on the wall now, but I have no idea if it was there in 1998. Let's say that it was.

**\- **Monica and Chandler happened to be at the first V-Day! On February 14th 1998, there was "a benefit performance to celebrate women and end sexual violence" held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, a show that raised $250,000 in a single evening.

"V-Day's mission is simple. It demands that violence against women and girls must end. To do this, once a year, in February, Eve [the woman who practically started it all] allows groups around the world to produce a performance of the play [the play she used in the first V-Day], as well as other works created by V-Day, and use the proceeds for local individual projects and programs that work to end violence against women and girls, often shelters and rape crisis centers. What began as one event in New York City in 1998 today includes over 5,800 V-Day events annually."

I found the concept of this event very interesting and I'm glad I was able to share it through a story. Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
